The Barpeta police on January 26 while acting on a tip off carried out an operation in Kurbaha village under Sarbhog Police Station and picked up four persons in connection with a child marriage case.
“We arrested four persons, including a Kaji, for the marriage of an underage girl. The groom, his father and uncle were the other three persons arrested for the crime,” said Amitav Sinha, Superintendent of Police, Barpeta.
The arrest bears significance coming as it does on the backdrop of a Cabinet decision of the Assam Government which has decided to take a multi-pronged strategy to crackdown on child marriage based on its decision in a Cabinet meeting of January 23.
The Assam Cabinet had then decided to launch a State-wide drive against the menace of child marriage. The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting following thorough the discussion of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS- 5)
Addressing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma said the Government has directed the police to launch a massive crackdown against child marriage in the next fortnight.
Data from the National Family Health Survey -5 (For the year 2019-20), reflect that 31.8% of women in Assam in the age group of 20-24 years have married before the age of 18 years compared to 23.3% in India.
Moreover, 11.7% of women in Assam in the age group of 15-19 years were already mothers or pregnant at the time of the survey (NFHS-5) compared to 6.8% of women in India.
The Chief Minister explained how the Centre’s survey, conducted between 2019 and 2020, revealed an ‘alarming’ 11.7% of underage mothers or pregnant girls in the State, a figure ‘much higher’ than the national average of 6.8%. Dr. Sarma said that the figures reflected ‘rampant’ child marriage, a root cause of high maternal mortality and infant mortality rates in Assam.
“The worrying trend is that in Dhubri; around 50.8% of the marriages have taken place in the prohibited age category. Besides 44.7% of child marriages have been registered in South Salmara; 42.8% and 42.6% in Darrang and Nagaon respectively; 41.8% and 41.7% in Goalpara and Bongaigaon respectively; 40.1% in Barpeta; 39.1% in Morigaon and lowest in Dima Hasao district with 16.5%,” revealed Dr. Sarma.
According to the survey, western Assam’s Dhubri district registered 22.4% of women/girls that gave birth at the prohibited age. Likewise, in South Salmara, 22% of women became mothers at an early age; 16.1% in Darrang; 15.7% in Kamrup; 15.6% in Hojai; 15.4% in Bongaigaon; 15% in Nagaon and 14.2% in Barpeta district.
“State wide police action will be initiated against people involved in Child Marriage menace. FIR will be lodged under POCSO Act in situations where the girl’s age is under 14 years and under The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 in cases where the girl’s age is between 14 years and 18 years,” said Dr Sarma.
The POCSO Act of 2012 defines a child as anyone under the age of 18, and it criminalises sex between an underage child and an adult. The Act defines ‘sexual crime’ as when the husband engages in sexual activity with his wife who is under the age of 14. According to POCSO, a violation of the POCSO Act imposes a life sentence for the male partner. Under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006, action can be taken against those who marry girls between 14 and 18 years of age.
He said that based on the Cabinet decision, the Gaon Panchayat Secretary will now also be designated as the child marriage prohibition officer (CMPO), tasked with the responsibility of lodging an FIR if she comes across any such case in area of her jurisdiction.
The State Cabinet’s move to curb the menace of child marriage was apparently inspired by similar rule in Karnataka. “The Karnataka Government is doing this. So, we are taking a bit of inspiration from Karnataka,” said Dr. Sarma while adding that it will be a priority of the State Government to eradicate the menace within five years.
